US sends arms to Iraq – to solve problems Washington helped create

A member loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) waves an ISIL flag in Raqqa June 29, 2014. (Reuters) / Reuters

The US is conducting air strikes and supplies weapons to help outgunned Iraqi Kurds fight off the offensive of Islamist militants. The Kurds are battling against extremists armed with American arms and nurtured thanks to America’s policies.

The airstrikes aimed at positions of the militants from the
Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, in northern Iraq
are not expected to seriously undermine their strength, US
generals say.

“We assess that US airstrikes in northern Iraq have slowed
ISIL's operational tempo and temporarily disrupted their advances
toward the province of Erbil,” said Army Lt. Gen. William
Mayville, the Joint Chiefs of Staff director of operations.

He added that the fundamental Islamist group “remains focused
on securing and gaining additional territory throughout Iraq and
will sustain its attacks against Iraqi and Kurdish security
forces and their positions, as well as target[ing] Yazidis,
Christians and other minorities.”

“I in no way want to suggest that we have effectively
contained or that we are somehow breaking the momentum of the
threat posed by ISIS,” Mayville added.

Kurds vs. Islamists

Rather than defeating the IS militants, the airstrikes are meant
to give a breathing space to the Kurdish Peshmerga militia, the
general said, which is the only force in northern Iraq strong
enough to confront the Islamists. In addition to bombing the
militants, Washington has agreed to directly arm the Kurds, the
media reported on Monday, overturning Washington’s longstanding
policy of funneling all arms supplies to Iraq through the
government in Baghdad.

According to Kurdish officials, the weapons would be supplied
through the CIA and would include Russian-made small arms, such
as Kalashnikov rifles and mortars. However, this could leave the
Peshmerga at a serious disadvantage, as the Islamic State
fighters are much better armed, having seized hundreds of
millions of dollars-worth of heavy American weapons from the
fleeing Iraqi army.

“The jihadist forces in Iraq are probably the strongest
jihadist force in the region and in the world,” Walid
Phares, a leading anti-terrorism expert and advisor, told RT.
“They are equipped with advanced American weapons. And that’s
how they were able to ethnic-cleanse the minorities from many
areas south of Kurdistan. And now they are attacking
Kurdistan.”

Experts say it is probably only a matter of time before IS finds
a way to fully benefit from having US-made tanks and helicopters
the way it currently benefits from US-made artillery pieces
shelling the Kurd troops.

Syria base

The irony of the US having to bomb their own hardware arguably
matches that of the US inadvertently contributing to the rise of
IS, which grew from a relatively ordinary branch of Al-Qaeda to
one of the best-armed and best-funded terrorist groups in the
world.

The Islamic State’s lightning offensive in June, which took by
surprise – including the US and Iraqi governments alike – would
have been unlikely if the militants hadn’t built themselves a
strong base in neighboring Syria. They managed to do this
exploiting the weakness of the Syrian government bogged down by
years of fighting against various rebel factions, some of them
vocally supported by the US and its allies.

“The US allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to support,
fund and train armed opposition groups in Syria,” political
activist Raed Jarrar told RT. “Definitely foreign
interventions and foreign agendas in the region opened the door
wide for the extremist groups.”

IS, originally an Iraq-based organization, carved out a piece of
eastern Syria thanks to ruthlessness on the ground, funding from
private sponsors in countries suc h as Kuwait and Qatar, and an
abundance of weapons smuggled into Syria, including those
reportedly delivered to rebel groups with the help of the CIA and
Turkey.

After securing their base, they invaded Iraq in a bid to create a
caliphate straddling both countries.

Oil for Kurds

Direct arming of Peshmerga forces by the US is a benchmark for
Iraqi Kurdistan, a region that has been largely autonomous from
Baghdad for years, with its own government, armed forces and may
other attributes of a sovereign state.

The region is also financially independent, controlling about 10
percent of Iraqi oil production. Iraqi Kurdistan produced some
360,000 barrels per day in June, according to the Paris-based
International Energy Agency. Large western oil companies such as
ExxonMobil, Total and Chevron are involved in the production,
which certainly gives the US another incentive for supporting
Kurdistan.

“What basically exists in Iraqi Kurdistan is a US
protectorate. That’s where the oil is under US control,”
political analyst William Dores told RT.

Anti-war activist Brian Becker agrees: “We can see that the
Islamic State has carried out executions, mass executions in
Syria and in other parts of Iraq. That by itself did not generate
a US military response but when they threatened Erbil, which is
the center of Kurdish regional government… then of course it
becomes an imperative for the US to try to carry out military
strikes.”

Kurdish oil is an attractive target for the Islamists as well.
Battling Peshmerga, the IS took over seven oil fields and two
refineries in northern Iraq, including in Kurdistan. The crude
itself has now reportedly been sold, giving the militants
additional cash.